


Sugar

by juicebboxx



Category: Ballet RPF, Daniel Kessler - Fandom, Indie Music RPF, Interpol, Paul Banks - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 04:52:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19077865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juicebboxx/pseuds/juicebboxx
Summary: There's sugar on your soul, you're like no one I know. You're the light from another world.Follow Ella on instagram: @heyyyy_ella





	1. Iced coffee on a cold day

Ella tapped her foot on the ground in the rhythm of the song blasting through her headphones as a sign of impatience. The subway ride between her apartment near the Chelsea Market and the school where she was a ballet teacher on the East Village was short, but the brunette always managed to be late.

As soon as the subway stopped on the 1st Avenue she got up, placed her bag on her shoulder and started to walk on a steady pace between the sea of people that were also running to get to work. It was a cloudy fall's day in New York City, the heavy coats already starting to leave the wardrobes to be seen on the streets.

After leaving the station, a 5 minute walk separated her from arriving at the Ballet Club so she kept going ahead, the cold air gushing on Ella's face leaving her cheeks and the tip of her nose a little bit red. As she stopped at a red sign and waited for the light to go green her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she didn't had any breakfast this morning since her coffee machine broke last week.

Ella crossed the road, took her phone out of her hoodie pocket and checked the time: 8:55. Decided not to starve herself until lunchtime she looked through the windows of the Starbucks in front of her and only saw a few costumers waiting for their orders. Ella had 5 minutes to order some coffee and arrive on time to her 9 a.m. class. She opened the heavy glass door determined to make it happen.

While she looked down, rummaging through her bag to find her wallet, the man that was in front of her on the line just finished his order and walked away from the register. I won't have to wait too long, she thought. Lucky day.

"Morning" she said while her eyes scanned the menu on the wall "One large coffee and a chocolate brownie, please".

"Name?" the girl behing the counter asked.

"Ella".

She proceeded to pay, said thank you and moved to left to wait for her order.

As she was standing near one of the windows her cellphone started to ring.

"Hello?"

"Ella, you're late". Not even a hello or a good morning from Anna, her boss.

"I know, I'm sorry. The subway took forever to arrive and starbucks is ridiculous full right now". She blatantly lied while stuffing her things inside of her bag again.

"You're teaching young kids now, just remember that you'll have to face a lot of angry mothers". Anna kept complaining on Ella's ear for a few more minutes on which she just kept staring at the barista's making the coffees and tapping her foot on the ground. The tapping is definetely becoming a habit.

Ella heard a name being called so she just walked to the counter while finishing her call."Listen, they just called my name. I'll be there in less than 3 minutes. Bye bye!". Without giving Anna a chance to reply she tucked her phone on her pocket, grabbed the cup that was placed on the counter and started walking to the exit, but before she could reach the door she felt a strong hand touch her shoulder. Ella jumped and turned around a little startled to be faced with a tall man looking at her with a little smile on his lips and his eyebrows raised.

"That's my coffee" his voice was soothing and he said every word with a pause between them.

Ella was breathless and looked at her hands to see an iced coffee with the name "Paul" written with a firm handwriting on the side of the cup. She was lost for words and felt all the blood raising to her cheeks.

"I'm so so sorry" was all Ella could mumble while staring at the mans bright blue eyes.

"Can you give it back to me or...?" He pointed at her hands feeling a little awkward.

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry again. I thought they had called my name". She handled him the cup filled with ice and furrowed her eyebrows. "Who drinks iced coffee on such a cold day?"

Paul gave her a weird look and laughed a little "But who doesn't?"

Ella kept staring at his eyes a little bit longer than necessary while he stared back, none of them saying anything. They only stopped when the barista screamed her name, letting the entire place know that her order was ready.

Paul took a step to the side to let her pass and grab her warm coffee and the little package containing the chocolate brownie.

Without saying anything they both walked to the exit together, the man opening the door for her while she fixed her heavy bag on her shoulder.

As soon as they reached the sidewalk Paul reached his pockets, took a pair of sunglasses and placed it on his face. "Well, I'll go left from here. Have a nice day".

Ella, that was staring at him the whole time wondering if they had already met before, came to the realization of who he was. "WAIT!" She screamed before her mind could process everything she was thinking. Paul stopped and turned around, looking a her through the blue lenses of his glasses.

She felt herself getting more embarrassed and red on the face. "Uh... be careful not to get sick, you know. All that ice... it can't be good for you".

Paul really laughed this time. A deep one. Straight from his throat. "I'll be. Nothing to worry about me, young lady". Then he left. Walking fast and blending between all the New Yorkers, wearing black pants and a black hoodie.

Ella took a deep breath, fixed her hair behind her ear and started going on the opposite direction. She was madly late now.

 

Almost three hours and two classes later, Ella finally had a pause. After saying goodbye to all her little ballerinas she took off her ballet shoes, sat down on the floor and fished her bag to look for her phone.

There was only a text message from her best friend to confirm their plans for tomorrow night. Not even thinking about it she pressed the call button.

"Hey, Ella". She heard her friend's sleepy voice after the third call.

"Luana, you're not gonna believe what the fuck I just did today".

"What?" Luana yawned not paying much attention.

"I stole Paul Banks coffee".


	2. Emojis and a very weird conversation

10 minutes later and Ella was still awake, sitting on her bed and the only source of light in the entire apartment was the bright screen of the phone on her hand. Her racing thoughts had already created a thousand of scenarios and possibilities of why on earth would Paul Banks follow her on instagram, but most importantly, how he had found her profile.

She stared at the phone until her eyes started to burn. Her finger hovering over his profile picture unsure of what to do next. So she locked the phone, hided it under the pillow next to her, lied down, forced her eyes to close and tried to sleep.

Not even seconds later she reached to her phone again and opened his profile.

Musician. Dog lover.

That was his instagram bio. The vocalist of a worldwide famous band had that as a description of himself on social media. His posts consisted of black and white pictures of buildings around the world and some old ones of the sea. It showed a lot of him, but at same time was extremely mysterious.

"Imagine having a face like that and not posting one single selfie." Ella whispered to herself.

The girl wanted to scream, call Luana or any friend to let them know what was happening, but it was late and everyone was probably sleeping. So she did the most unreasonable thing she could think of: clicked on the Direct Messages icon and started typing before her brain had the time to process.

Stalking me, huh?

It's late, Ella.

He replied almost at the same time and Ella felt like her heart was gonna burst out of her chest.

I have a free day tomorrow.

😎

She didn't know what else say and waited for him to keep this weird conversation. But he didn't. His answer was an emoji. So she was back again at the staring contest with her phone debating why she had answered like that.

And that's how Ella slept that night: phone in hand and thinking about the bright blonde hair of a certain vocalist, after losing the staring battle. 

***

 

Ella did had a free day on that Saturday, but no plans or places to be. She woke up around ten, took a shower, made herself a nice breakfast and ate it while re-watching an episode of The Office. She decided that today was treat yourself day. Needing to recover from this intense and weird week.

She took two naps before lunch, ordered a pizza and kept lying on the couch while staring at the cealing. She finally decided to look at phone after avoiding it all day long, not wanting to know what was happening with anyone. Luana was working, she only talked to her parents in Brazil on Sundays and there was no shift to her at the bar tonight. So no one to talk to. But she wanted to talk to a specific someone, but he left her hanging with a sunglasses emoji. Great.

😎??? An emoji? That's the answer I get?

"My god I look desperate." She said out loud. Her voice raspy from not talking for a long time. 

I'm deeply sorry, didn't mean to be rude.  
I just learned to text people from instagram. Enjoying your free day so far?

 

Only watched The Office and slept :) WAIT are you telling you had never sent a DM? 

No. 👍🏼

Ella laughed a little. She thought his way of texting was extremally cute, using emojis and periods at the end of every sentence.

Doing anything today?  
Up for a coffee?

The girl dropped the phone on her lap as she read his message.

Sure. Iced coffee, though?

They arranged the meeting for the same Starbucks in one hour. Ella jumped from her couch and went looking for something to wear.

Now she really needed to call Luana and tell her the news.

***

Ella arrived 15 minutes before the time they had agreed to meet. The girl got ready really fast and the subway ride was short since there wasn't a lot of people. She decided for an all black look with high waisted jeans and an oversized sweater, white sneakers on her foots. She dropped herself on the couch on the corner of the place and a few moments later Paul arrived.

He went on Ella's direction removing his cap and sunglasses, probably to avoid being recognized on the way here, so she got up and they met halfway. If someone looked from afar the person would think they combined their looks before going out, because Paul was also wearing an all black outfit with white sneakers. She was unsure of what to do, but Paul didn't seem to notice how nervous she was and gave her a fast hug. Ella sat down again, shaking and with all the blood concentrated on her cheeks making her blush hard.

"Thanks for accepting my short notice invitation. You must think I'm a creep." He said while making himself comfortable on the couch right in front of Ella.

She dismissed him with her hand. "I'd like to think that our encounters were purely coincidences."

"They were."

"But you following me on instagram was just plain creep."

Paul raised his eyebrows. "I know how to look at tagged photos on instagram, you know." He pointed at the black iPhone on his hand.

"And now you know how to DM people. Great evolution!" Ella showed faked enthusiasm and he laughed. She liked that he never lost his cool aura not even when he was laughing.

"You never told me your name, Ella. Had to discover it on the internet." Ella liked the way her name sounded with his deep voice.

"What else did you learn?"

"Nothing. I like to know things about people while I talk to them. As old fashioned that may sound."

"Not old fashioned at all."

The barista screamed Paul's name and he got up to grab his order. When he came back he placed a large coffee in front of Ella and sat down again holding his beloved iced coffee.

"I didn't see you ordering anything." She took a sip of her hot drink.

"Ordered as soon as I arrived." He leaned on the couch again and stared directly at Ella. "This was what you ordered that day, so I figured it's a favorite."

"It is. Thanks."

"So, a ballerina?"

"Yup, ballet teacher." Ella stared back at his light blue eyes. He had his full attention on her. "Came to New York to pursue a career, but only dancing still doesn't pay the bills, so I started teaching young kids."

"I still haven't figured out your accent." Paul placed his cup on the little table next to him, but not once breaking eye contact.

"I'm from São Paulo."

"Brazilian!" He slapped his knee and smiled. "One of my favorites places ever." Ella also smiled at how enthusiastic he sounded at discovering she was from Brazil.

"Went to college, got an economics degree but didn't liked it at all. One month later I was on an airplane leaving family and friends behind to start everything here." She shrugged. "So far so good."

"You seem to be doing well."

"I'm even having a coffee date with Paul Banks."

"Is this a date?" Paul inclined on Ella's direction and gave her a little smirk. She felt her mouth get dry and her cheeks get red again. "Will you ever stop doing that?"

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Doing what?"

"Blushing every time you get near me."

"No." Ella said in a faint voice.

"Good." Paul opened a genuine smile while his eyes scanned her face.

Ella could not help but to analyze his face from this proximity. His blue eyes, rose lips and blond gold hair. The man was beautiful, there was no denying.

They stayed like that for a moment until a guy approached Paul and asked for a picture. They both got up and while Paul talked to the fan and took a picture Ella left the Starbucks and went to the sidewalk. She needed a moment far from his stare and the strong intoxicating smell he was emanating to think about the conversation they just had. Ella had her fair share of dates and boyfriends, she was not some young innocent girl, but she could not tell if Paul was just being his flirty self or if this was actually him showing interest.

The door opened behind her, taking her out of her contemplative state.

"Sorry about that." Paul said as he got closer to her. "May I drive you home?"

"I live near the Chelsea Market. It's a short subway ride, don't worry."

"So I will take the subway with you. Come on." He didn't looked like taking a no for an answer.

"Okay. This way." Ella pointed to the direction and they started walking. Almost as and instinct Paul touched the small of her back while they crossed the street and Ella was startled by how she felt the heat of his hand through her sweater.

She blushed and looked the other way hoping he wouldn't notice her red cheeks. But he gave her a side smirk while putting his glasses and cap back on, showing he had noticed, but none of them said anything and they just kept walking side by side while New York sunset blessed them.


End file.
